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“Milk” gets SAG nods for Penn, Brolin and cast…

Excuse me while I fall asleep at my desk! Got up at 5:15 a.m. and had to jam out of the house to get to the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood for the 6 a.m. announcement of the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. I was excited when the cast of “Milk” announced in the outstanding cast category and Sean Penn and Josh Brolin were nominated in the individual acting categories.

I had to zip over to the newsroom and write a story in less than two hours and here it is:

Richard Jenkins got nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award Thursday for his performance in the film “The Visitor.”
So how was he planning to celebrate?

“I’m going to the store, I have to get some milk,” he said shortly after receiving the news. “I’ll make a Caesar salad later on and if the barber gets a cancellation, I might get a haircut.”

“It’s a little surreal,” said Jenkins, the veteran character actor previously best known for his role on the HBO series “Six Feet Under.” “I did know at the time that it was an amazing project I was working on but how anyone would feel about it, that you have no idea. Maybe because I’ve been around so long, things have come together.”

Things also came together for the drama “Doubt,” the film version of the hit Broadway play. It got five SAG nominations – two more than any other film.

Leading lady Meryl Streep earned her sixth nomination in the lead actress in a movie category while costars Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis were nominated in supporting categories.

The four “Doubt” actors will also compete in the outstanding cast category, SAG’s equivalent of a best picture prize. Other nominees in the ensemble category are “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

Leo was in Vancouver when she found out about her nomination and said: “I’ve been just dancing around the hotel. An actor is often alone in a hotel room.”

She is thrilled to be included among the nominees, especially Streep.

“I was leaving SUNY Purchase (State University of New York, Purchase) when Meryl was doing “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” and she is someone who has just awed and inspired me,” Leo said, her voice suddenly growing thick with emotion. “To see my name beside hers and the other fine actresses, it makes me a little speechless.”

One of those actresses, Winslet, was a double nominee Thursday. She earned a second nod in the supporting actress category for her role in “The Reader.” But Taraji P. Henson did her one better with three nominations – more than any other performer.

Henson is part of the “Benjamin Button” ensemble and is up for supporting actress for her role as Pitt’s adoptive mother in the film. Her third nod was in the television category of outstanding cast in a TV drama for “Boston Legal.”

Other notable nominations: the late Heath Ledger earned a nod in the supporting actor category for his performance as The Joker in “The Dark Knight. He had previously been nominated in 2006 for “Brokeback Mountain.”

Penelope Cruz earned a nod in the supporting actress category for her performance in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” to compete with Adams, Davis, Henson and Winslet.

In the television categories, the comedy “30 Rock,” the miniseries “John Adams” and the dramas “Mad Men,” “Boston Legal” and “The Closer” led with three nominations each.

David Duchovny, nominated for outstanding actor in a comedy series for Showtime’s “Californication,” will be vying for his first SAG award on his ninth nomination. But to end his SAG losing streak, he’ll have to beat Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”), Steve Carell (“The Office”), Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”) and Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”).

Sally Field, nominated for “Brothers & Sisters,” is also trying to win her first SAG Award. The two-time Oscar winner and three-time Emmy winner has never won despite being nominated six previous times for various projects.

Kiefer Sutherland, ineligible for actor in a drama series because his series “24” did not air this year, earned a nod anyway for the TV movie “24: Redemption.” He competes with Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson nominated for “John Adams” as well as Ralph Fiennes (“Bernard and Doris”) and Kevin Spacey (“Recount”).

The nominations were announced at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood by Eric McCormack and Angela Bassett SAG President Alan Rosenberg was also on hand with most of the questions afterward focused on a possible strike by the guild next year.

“Everybody’s worried,” McCormack said. “But I think today is that one day when we’ve gotta go, ‘Lets celebrate performances and not be politicians. We’re actors today.”

The nominations are determined by panels of more than 2,100 actors randomly selected by the guild for the movie and television categories for awards to be handed out Jan. 25.